David Straight 2.0 -- The British Back Door and Our Claims

 By Anna Von Reitz

Let me explain something to you. David Straight is adopting the political status of a British Territorial United States Citizen, otherwise known as a U.S. Citizen, and he is assuming that that's the status that you want, too.

Do you want to be a Subject of the Queen?

Well, if so, hop to it.

If not, listen up.

After The War of Independence, the Tories --- Americans who sided with the British -- didn't go away. They were allowed to stay and to provide our fledgling government with "essential government services" as detailed in Article IV.

If you are an American, Donald Trump isn't your President. Isn't now and never was. He's just like Abraham Lincoln, the "President" of a foreign British Corporation operating on our shores.

His corporation belongs to the Queen. He, as an employee of that corporation, works for the Queen. He owes allegiance to the Queen. He is subject to the Queen's law. And so are all other U.S. Citizens.

[God give me strength, I am so tired of explaining this!]

If you are an American, you are the Employer of Trump and Trump's corporation which is doing business as "the" United States of America.

It's perfectly allowable for Trump and David Straight to be here in this country and for them to claim the political status of American State Nationals because they were both born in this country on our land and soil.

But, because of their employment, they are not currently acting as Americans. They are acting as British Territorial Officers, that is, as U.S. Citizens, not as Americans.

Americans stand on the land and soil and accrue all the sovereignty owed this country.

Lately, people have been claiming -- falsely -- that I didn't claim back the sea and the air and the soil --- only the "land" owed to this country, but they are completely mistaken in that idea.

I claimed it all, in order, on the Public Record, step by step. Once I returned officially to the land and soil, I methodically claimed every iota of America --- and I had and have the "standing" to do it.

All sovereignty derives from the land and soil. All other jurisdictions derive from the land and soil. The sea jurisdiction is apportioned to the land and soil, as is the air jurisdiction. You can't have a sea jurisdiction or an air jurisdiction without "standing" on the land and soil, but once you have the land and soil, all the rest accrues to you.

So, guess what? The Public Records will show that I claimed back the Municipal STATES and STATES OF STATES, the Territorial State Trusts and States of States, and rolled them all over to the ownership of the unincorporated soil jurisdiction owed to our country doing business as The United States since 1776. And then, having dumped all the assets, including gold, owed to America and Americans back into the lap of The United States, I very properly assigned the traditional delegated duties in international jurisdiction to The United States of America, our unincorporated Federation of States.

There have also been rumors that I "signed" it away, but a close examination will show that I have never signed anything in my life, and neither has any other American.

Trump and David and all the other U.S. Citizen Employees have seized upon gold that is owed to us, Americans --- not to them while they are employed by the Queen --- to us, the people who are standing on the land and soil of this country.

And why is that? They are "Americans" too aren't they?

It's the same reason that all sovereignty and standing accrues to the land and soil, not to the sea or the air. Standing. Substance. Physicality.

All physical assets including gold and silver belong to the land and soil. Gold and silver are physical assets, therefore, they belong to the living people and Lawful persons populating the land and soil of this country ---- and furthermore, Mr. Trump and Mr. Straight and all the other U.S. Citizens are not our representatives or agents or appointees with respect to our gold and silver assets.

We retain the obligation and the right to deal in silver and gold, while our Employees are limited to dealing in credit. It's written right there in the Constitutions. The actual physically defined States pay in gold and silver. Federal Congresses pay in credit.

Americans are reminded that there are two levels or stages of the Great Fraud.

In the first level, they pretend that you are a baby of unknown origin, abandoned on a fictional battlefield. They get your unwitting Mother to sign paperwork "for" you, misidentifying you are a British Territorial U.S. Citizen and "waiving" your birthright estate as an American "for" you.

There's just one or two little problems with that. It's against international law and is a hanging offense for starters. And secondly, our rights as Americans accrue to us at birth and cannot be traded or given away-- not by us, and certainly not by our Mothers.

The resulting U.S. Citizens are presumed to be British Merchant Seaman, specifically, Warrant Officers known as "Taxpayers"" who collect taxes for the Queen and the Pope, or, alternatively, they are presumed to be Americans voluntarily adopting U.S. Citizen status and "waiving" their birthright estate as Free Men -----and subjecting themselves to the Queen as dependents and wards of the state, which are Foreign Situs Trust properties called "Infant Decedent Estates".

That's a whole lot of unjustifiable and self-interested presumption that the Brits need to have shoved up their noses --- but I digress.

The point is that David Straight and all his Pals including Donald Trump are trying to have it both ways, and that's not possible.

You are either an American standing on the land and soil, owed both, plus all other physical assets of this country, or, you are acting in a foreign capacity in a different jurisdiction which is not physical and not substantive, and therefore lacking standing to claim one iota of the gold, silver, land or soil owed to this country.

All of you "officers" and "gentlemen" who have latched onto our gold and silver "for" us, need to turn over control of our assets and stop all the False Claims. You don't represent us in any matter not specifically delegated to you by the actual Constitutions. See Article 1, Section 10 for proof that the actual physically-defined States are the ones that deal in gold and silver, not the States-of-States controlled by any Federal Congress.

Fool me once, shame on you.... fool me twice, shame on me. We had enough of this usurpation at the hands of Abraham Lincoln.

So, much as I admire Donald Trump's business acumen and while I do believe that he loves this country, the gold and the silver and everything else has to be collected in international jurisdiction by our unincorporated Federation of States, and returned to the States and the people of this country.

It isn't something left up to chance or not covered in the Constitutions. The U.S. Citizens who have pretended to act "for" us in this matter are clearly obligated both legally and lawfully to cough up all American material assets held in their custody (other than assets allowed to them in the performance of their delegated duties) and return them to our lawful American Government.

I have acted in complete honor with respect to all that I have done. I returned all the physical assets and property that I claimed and collected as a Fiduciary back to The United States and the living people of this country. I then re-assigned the international powers and duties to our unincorporated Federation of States doing business as The United States of America.

This stands clear on the Public and International Records of this country so nobody can accuse me of not having standing or not doing the right thing or not doing a complete job of it.

Read the "I Am Your Anchor Baby" Article posted at www.annavonreitz.com to get a clear vision of exactly how and why I took the action and the implications this has for you and every other American.

Those who are loyal to the Queen are welcome to be loyal to the Queen --- and take their lumps according to their contracts and obligations. Return the gold and silver and land patents and cadastral surveys and grants all the way home.

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Dear Jill

 By Anna Von Reitz

I don’t often take time out for personal correspondence, other than writing thank you notes to express gratitude for gifts and donations, but your latest letter requires much more of a response.

In “Begin at the Beginning” I am recounting western history --- at least as multiple cultures and records report it to us in this far distant time. We are as certain as it is possible to be that idolatry, money, and temple prostitution were all the inventions of Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod, and Queen of the corresponding city and region in Ancient Mesopotamia.

It’s what was directly recorded by numerous different civilizations at the time.

The credit or blame for these inventions rests with her for the simple reason that she, as an individual, is the one who introduced these ideas and practices, not because she was a woman.

It is arguable that by introducing the concept of ritual purging of sins by having sex with a temple prostitute (who then earned money for the temple from the contrite sinner), Semiramis was empowering women by teaching them the value of sex in the marketplace.

Since Semiramis and her husband, King Nimrod, got a cut off this business, I would rather characterize her as an imaginative and calculating Madam circa 7,000 BC.

I would argue that anything that reduces sex to the level of a commercial transaction is evil, just as viewing marriage as a Joint Venture is evil. Both sex and marriage are meant to be so much more than that --- the foundation of a family and lifelong love relationships is not “the same as” a couple people getting together to produce widgets.

In this and with her other inventions, Semiramis displayed a high degree of what the Bible calls “double mindedness” – the ability to redefine things according to different contexts and think in abstract, symbolic ways. While there is nothing wrong with this in-and-of-itself, we have to judge the tree by its fruits when it comes to the results.

--- Temple prostitution led inevitably to secular prostitution, which led to the entire industry of sex for sale, and that in turn led to pimps profiting themselves from women’s bodies, that led to harems that treated women like breeding stock instead of individuals of divine value, that led to forced prostitution and rape and kidnapping, as women who didn’t care to participate were forced into it against their will.

And when, inevitably, the temple prostitutes got pregnant as a result of their services, it led to other evils as well. Now you’ve got unwanted babies by unknown Fathers. Instead of a woman treasuring a child as a reflection of her beloved husband, a temple prostitute could not view the product of her job in the same way.

She viewed the entire process of being pregnant and giving birth as an incredibly unfortunate event. She was out of work during the later phases of it, went through the pain and danger of childbirth, and ended up with a child she didn’t know or want, enjoyed a brief period of prosperity afterward in which the grown men lined up to suck the milk out of her breasts, and then wanted nothing more than to get rid of the baby that was an economic burden to her.

So, then, the tradition of child sacrifice was born to get rid of all the unwanted, unknown babies that the temple prostitution industry produced. Just like dominoes, one evil perpetuated another. All over the Ancient Near East, huge furnaces in the shape of an owl were erected. Fires were stoked in the belly of these stone or iron effigies and the babies were thrown into the fire as an offering to this owl god called Molloch.

You can see exactly such an effigy at the Bohemian Grove in California to this very day. The participants, mostly uber-wealthy politicians and business elites wear robes and officiate at a pseudo-ritual they call “The Death of Dull Care” where a child is sacrificed and loss of innocence is celebrated and the men all heave a sigh of relief because they don’t have to be responsible for what they’ve created.

Soon, the religious zealots of this cult were demanding that every couple sacrifice their first-born child to their evil blood-thirsty god and teaching that terrible things would befall the whole community if this sacrifice wasn’t made.

Obviously, many young parents couldn’t stomach throwing their baby into the furnace and watching it burn alive, so the zealots decreed that one of the parents must sacrifice their life in exchange for keeping the baby. Thousands of funerary “jars” have been found throughout the Mideast, Asia Minor, and North Africa, containing the charred corpses of parents who made this choice and threw themselves into the furnace instead of their babies.

If you are finding all of this horrifying, the use of sex for “ritual cleansing” ---and profit--- was to take yet another ugly turn. Men learned that with enough olive oil and incense, they could make money as temple prostitutes, too. Homosexual sex temples of both kinds soon dotted the landscape.

Some societies like the Ancient Greeks went so far as to pair up grown men with young boys starting at about age eight, and these mentors ritually raped these young boys at their convenience until they, too, grew up and starting raping other boys in turn. It was considered a coming of age ceremony for grown men to rape little boys.

And all of this developed and became institutionalized because of Semiramis. Unknown millions of people were traumatized both as children and as adults by the things this woman spawned --- and you wonder why she is singled out and called “the Great Abomination” by everyone with a brain, then and now?

It is no honor to associate yourself with this “goddess” and anyone who teaches you otherwise is a liar or a fool. With this one invention, she reduced the bodies of both men and women to being mere objects, and the act of intercourse to nothing more than a commercial transaction with dire results.

I think I have made my point, without going into a dissertation on the evils of idolatry in general and the evils of money idolatry in particular. Though she was adored by all those looking for an excuse to dip their wicks without being held responsible for the results, Semiramis brought a great deal of suffering, death and destruction into the world.

Today, she is still worshiped by self-absorbed psychopaths and nymphomaniacs who have nothing better to do than indulge their base instincts behind a veneer of holiness and sacrifice--- of others.

I am afraid that I have no patience with her followers. The historical record is clear. We know the fruits of this tree already and have no reason to go back for a second helping, no matter what men like Bill Gates and Gavin Newsom may think or say or do.

No, I am certainly not going to make the mistake of worshiping an idiot whose only apparent talent was an ability to exchange reality for a hall of mirrors and find hypocritical, profitable excuses for doing so.

She has been known by many names – Semiramis, Ashtoreth, Astarte, Isis, Cybele, and Columbia among them. She has even been confused with the Sumerian Great Mother Goddess, Inanna.

I am sorry if you have interpreted my antipathy for this individual and her teachings as any generalized hatred of pagan people or pagan women, either. This is incorrect. I respect everyone’s right to believe what they believe and do what they wish --- so long as it doesn’t harm someone else or destroy someone else’s property.

Our bodies are our property and when someone harms or destroys this most basic property, in my view, it is a capital crime against the individual being harmed, and an act of violence or murder against mankind. It lessens all of us.

This is why I am against abortion. It demeans and devalues human life if we destroy it for convenience. It says that we are less, that our lives mean less, that we are expendable. Not sacred. Not precious.

We toss away garbage, don’t we? And what happens when we toss away babies in furnaces or deny them life as fetuses because we don’t want to deal with the results of our own actions? We demean ourselves and everyone else around us to the level of garbage, just so much detritus.

There is a principle at work here that I must observe to you --- what we do to others, we do to ourselves.

When we murder our own children, when we rape children, when we discount their rights as living individuals --- we also violate our own rights and demean our own value. When we allow someone else to be enslaved, we open up the whole possibility that we will be enslaved. And when we censor them, we censor ourselves.

Your letter was quite a diatribe in favor of the Sacred Feminine and matriarchy -- and full of assumptions that I am an advocate for patriarchy and conventional Christianity. Not so. I critique all religions with equal ferocity based on the results of their doctrines. I am quick to see and value what is good, and equally quick to recognize what is evil.

No, I am targeting Semiramis and her Cult for the known evils they’ve brought into the world, just as I decry the Doctrine of Transubstantiation – barely veiled cannibalism -- being accepted and taught by the modern Church.

We are not here to blindly follow. We are here to discern. Let us discern therefore what is good in all teaching and what brings health and happiness and joy and honor --- and choose that with all our hearts. Let us equally recognize evil and turn away from all things that are demeaning to our bodies and our souls--- and not be meek in our objections to ideas and practices that harm any one of us, for in harming one, these things harm us all.

Much love and a prayer for your understanding for who I am and where I am coming from,

Anna Maria

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So, You Want Enforcement? -- A Message to All State Coordinators

 By Anna Von Reitz

I had the pleasure last night to have dinner with Paul Pappas, our Chief Continental Marshal, and several other men who either are Marshals or who are working with the Marshal's program. Their wit, their energy, their commitment and their scholarship were all outstanding and we can all be very proud of these, our American Marshals standing duty on the international land jurisdiction of this country.  

But I also heard some very disturbing reports of ignorance in the ranks, even among State Coordinators and State Assembly Chairmen.  

Reports that our Continental Marshals aren't welcome when they drop into Assembly meetings in their private capacity as American State Nationals, reports that these men are viewed with fear and suspicion by the totally ignorant among us, reports that some Assemblies have even gone so far as to tell their members that "we don't want the Federation involved in anything" and teaching their members that the Federation is to be feared. 

The Federation is the International component of your own American --- not "Federal" -- Government.  Wake up, Dimwits. 

There's a difference between "Federation" and "Federal" and you had all better be learning that for your own sakes and everyone else's. 

Imagine my consternation.  Day after bleeding day I get cries for help from every corner of this country, help with all conceivable problems -- mortgage foreclosures, child custody, insurance and real estate scams, arrests related to traveling from Point A to Point B --- and I listen to all of these people screaming that they want enforcement!  They want enforcement!   

And then they want to be afraid of and evade the men who come forward as their champions?  The men who are there to protect them from foreign overreach?  You don't want them around? 

Well, I've got news for any and all miscreants who can't read or think.  You are being protected by the Federation and the Federation is NOT what you apparently confuse with the Federal Government. 

You need to back the Federation for all you've got.  From now on, and until we are fully funded, every Assembly needs to take up a collection in support of the Federation.  You are supposed to be funding the Federation instead of the Federation bearing the expenses for you.  

As State Coordinators and State Assembly Chairmen you are supposed to know what the Federation is and what the Federation does and also what our Continental Marshals do and the jurisdiction they work in.  You are supposed to know this stuff and if you don't, you had jolly well better learn! 

And now that we've discussed the obvious Brain Dead misunderstanding some individuals are having, mistaking Federation Officers for Federal Officers, let's get down to some other brass tacks. 

As Americans we are all supposed to be doing our Public Duty.  

Public Duty -- those are magic words.  Nobody can oppose us doing our Public Duty.  As Americans, it is our Public Duty to enforce the Constitutions and enforce the Public Law.  

This means that in every State of the Union, we are responsible for telling our Employees when they cross the line with their private foreign codes, rules, regulations, statutes, and ordinances. 

We are individually and collectively responsible for this.  

This is why Assemblies are supposed to elect Sheriffs.  This is why Sheriffs are supposed to talk with the local police who are acting as private Law Enforcement Personnel --- sometimes also called "Sheriffs --- hired by corporations providing government services.  You need to explain jurisdiction to those folks, and the difference between the Public Law that you are enforcing, and the private corporation "laws" they are enforcing.  This is why education and outreach is so desperately needed. 

It's because you, at the local and State levels, aren't doing your Public Duty that we have all these problems.  You don't have enforcement, because you aren't doing the enforcement.  

Our Continental Marshals are doing their Public Duty in the international jurisdiction.  They are enforcing international land law, including the Constitutional limitations, and as they do so, they are protecting you.  

Honor them.  Respect them.   Listen to them.  They have all passed exhaustive tests with A ratings.  These are men who can explain things to you and help you.  

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The Latest Big Lies

 By Anna Von Reitz

I sometimes think that all these people know is how to lie.  And then, lie about lying. 

Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, famously observed that if you tell a really Big Lie and tell it often enough, no matter how preposterous, people believe it.  

So here's today's offering and I quote: 

"Back in 2019 during phase one of Sign-In America, Anna had the State Coordinators sign over your birth certificate because they monetized and liquidated them for themselves." 

Aside from the fact that nobody can sign over your birth certificate bonds but you, let's compare this with reality. 

I never asked anyone associated with Sign-In America to view anyone's birth certificate, ever.  

Why would I?  

Sign-In America is about bringing claims forward -- mortgages, utility bills, and other expenses that Americans shouldn't be paying.  Why?  Because Americans are the landlords and owners of the public utilities.  Americans are also owed Offset Mutual Credit Exchange Exemptions for all federal and federal franchise taxes.  Sign-In America is about claiming and eventually getting reimbursed for all that. Nothing to do with birth certificates. 

Once you have declared and established your standing as an American and have published that political status choice on the public record, there is no reason for anyone to ever view or keep a copy of your birth certificate.  The only reason we ever look at birth certificates is to establish where you were born.  We have no use for them aside from that. 

Then there is the idea that birth certificate bonds have value for the victims, when instead, they have value for the British Monarch and the Pope.  Think, people.  What are bonds and what are bonds associated with?  Bondage.  Yours.  

The Pope puts down your birth weight in gold as a bond against the value of your lifetime labor.  You either have to pay him back that gold, plus interest, or you are considered permanently enslaved and obligated to serve as a Municipal CITIZEN.   

And how are you ever going to pay him off, if you don't know that this bond has been placed against YOUR NAME? 

Now do you get what birth certificate bonds really are and how they work?  

The Pope can monetize and liquidate those bonds for himself, but you aren't even supposed to know that they exist.  You are supposed to be a nice, meek, stupid, compliant slave to this system, born to live and die without a glimmer of what is going on behind your back. 

What actually happened is that the Municipal Government, dba, UNITED STATES, INC. was getting ready for one of its period bankruptcies, in which it relieves itself of debt at your expense.  All the Municipal Cestui Que Vie Trusts "representing" your earthly estate were up for grabs, being surrendered to the Creditors of the UNITED STATES, INC.  --- and you, who are actually their Priority Creditors, didn't even have a claim on the gameboard. 

How could you?  You had no idea that any of this was even going on, much less how you had been "salvaged" by the British Crown under False Pretenses and sold to the Pope. 

At the time, and because of the looming bankruptcy settlement, I suggested that if you really are a U.S. Citizen, you should return the Municipal Birth Certificate related to the  PERSON to the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and appoint him or her as Fiduciary and direct him to deposit the PERSON in the U.S. Treasury Account.  This was done to force the U.S. Treasury to protect the assets of the actual Federal Employees among us.  Some of us who are not Federal Employees took this step, too, on our way back home to our State of the Union.  

Having put the U.S. Treasury on Notice and having made it responsible for the ESTATES bought everyone some precious time and a logical chain of possession allowing us to step-by-step remove our assets back to our home States, where they are protected from all and any corporate bankruptcies.  

So we claimed back all the property and assets belonging to Americans with "hands and feet" for those same Americans and we got your claim to your own earthly estate on the record for you and we stood behind the claims of both The United States and The United States of America, and we indemnified the whole she-bang with the UNITED STATES, INC., debt so that you could conduct lawful business again.   

We have spent the last twenty years trying to teach you knot heads how to reclaim your own assets out of the bankruptcy slush pile and get yourselves organized to operate your own government.  Those years have been unpaid years of public service.  

We have been doing our Public Duty as Americans.  We have been working for you, for free, for twenty-plus years.  And you do what?  Stand around and tell Big Fat Lies about us? 

As a result of the stink we've raised and the efforts of all the State Assemblies, the Perpetrators are being held responsible.  The gold underlying those birth certificate bonds has been returned to the Pope's henchmen operating "the" British Territorial United States of America --- not to us, the actual claimants.  

So, once again, this time against the Brits, we have to bring light to the issues, and rebut their claims that we are "lost" British Merchant Mariners or U.S. Citizens operating as Foreign Situs Trusts.  Left to themselves, they'd happily claim all that gold for the Queen and give it back to the Pope again.  

Here we are, fighting all these issues for you, in the determined effort to reclaim all American property assets and interests --- and all the Dimwits among us can do is stand around telling lies about us and what we have done and what we are doing. 

The true purpose of any Government is to protect the people they serve and also protect the people's assets.  This is what the unincorporated Federation of States doing business as The United States of America has done for you.  For free. 

You had better believe it and support it with every ounce of courage you've got, because our lawful American Government is all that is standing between you and some very rapacious foreign creditors who are owed a lot of money by the Hired Help pretending to "represent" you. 

If I could, I would personally like to slap the people responsible for the quote at the beginning of this article.  I would like to haul off and wallop them flat in the chops, make their teeth rattle, make them stand there and look at me, the same way you slap someone who is hysterical.  

Wherever their small, dirty, criminally-inclined minds are, they aren't here on Terra Firma and centered in reality.  

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Instruction on the Fifth Sunday After Easter

 Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine's

The Church's Year

In thanks for the redemption the Church sings at the Introit:

INTROIT Declare the voice of joy, and let it be heard, allel.: declare it even to the ends of the earth: the Lord hath delivered his people. (Isai. XLVII. 20.) Allel. allel. Shout with joy to God, all the earth: sing ye a psalm to his name, give glory to his praise. (Fs. LXV.) Glory etc.

COLLECT O God, from whom all good things proceed: grant to Thy suppliants, that by Thy inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by Thy guidance may perform the same. Through etc.

EPISTLE (James I. 22‑27.) Dearly Beloved, Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if a man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he shall be compared to a than beholding his own countenance in a glass: for he beheld himself and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was. But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty, and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless, and widows in their tribulation, and to keep one's self unspotted from the world.

EXPLANATION True piety, as St. James here says, consists not only in knowing and recognizing the word of God, but in living according to its precepts and teachings; in subduing the tongue, the most dangerous and injurious of all our members; in being charitable to the poor and destitute, and in contemning the world, its false principles, foolish customs and scandalous example, against which we should guard, that we may not become infected and polluted by them. Test thyself, whether thy life be of this kind.

ASPIRATION O Jesus! Director of the soul! Give me the grace of true piety as defined by St. James.

GOSPEL (John XVI. 23-30.) At this time, Jesus saith to his disciples: Amen, amen, I say to you, if you ask the Father,anything in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto, you have not asked anything in my name. Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will show you plainly of the Father. In that day, you shall ask in my name: and I say not to you that I will ask the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and go to the Father. His disciples say to him: Behold, now thou speakest plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now we know that thou knowest all things, and thou needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou comest forth from God.

Why does God wish us to ask of Him?

That we may know and confess that all good comes from Him; that we may acknowledge our poverty and weakness which in all things need the help of God; that we may thus glorify Him and render ourselves less unworthy of the gifts which He has promised us.

What is meant by asking to the name of Jesus?

By this is meant praying with confidence in the merits of Jesus, "who," as St. Cyril says, "being God with the Father, gives us all good, and as mediator carries our petitions to His Father." The Church, therefore concludes all her prayers with the words: "Through our Lord, Jesus Christ." It means also that we should ask that which is in accordance with the will of Christ, namely, all things necessary for the salvation of our soul; to pray for temporal things merely in order to live happily in this world, is not pleasing to Christ and avails us nothing. "He who prays for what hinders salvation," says St. Augustine, "does not pray in the name of Jesus." Thus Jesus said to His disciples: Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name, "because," as St. Gregory says, "they did not ask for that which conduces to eternal salvation."

Why is it that God sometimes does not grant our petitions?

Because we often pray for things that are injurious, and like a good father, God denies them to us, in order to give us something better; because He wishes to prove our patience and perseverance in prayer; because we generally do not pray as we ought; to be pleasing to God, prayer should be made when in a state of grace and with confidence in Christ's merits, for the prayer of a just man availeth much; (James V. 16.) we must pray with humility and submission to the will of God, with attention, fervor, sincerity, and with perseverance.

At what special times should we pray?

We should pray every morning and evening, before and after meals, in time of temptation, when commencing any important undertaking, and particularly in the hour of death. God is mindful of us every moment, and gives us His grace. It is, therefore, but just that we think often of Him during the day, and thank Him for His blessings.

How can we, in accordance with Christ's teachings, (Luke XVIII. 1.) pray at all times?

By making the good intention when commencing our work, to do all for the love of God, and according to His most holy will; by raising our hearts to God at different times during the day; frequently making acts of faith, hope, love, and humility, and by repeating short ejaculations, such as: O Jesus! grant me grace to love Thee! Thee only do I desire to love! O be merciful to me! Lord hasten to help me.

What is the signification of the different ceremonies that Catholics use at their prayers?

The general signification is that God must be served, honored and adored, not only with the soul but with the body; when we pray aloud we praise God, not only with the mind, but also with our lips; when we pray with bowed and uncovered head, with folded, uplifted, or outstretched hands, on bended knees, with bowed and prostrated body, we show our reverence and subjection to the majesty of God, before whom we, who are but dust and ashes, cannot humble ourselves enough. These different ceremonies during prayer are frequently mentioned in both the Old and the New Testaments, and Christ and His apostles have made use of them, as for instance, the bending of the knees, falling on the face, &c.

Which is the best of all prayers?

The Lord's Prayer which Christ Himself taught us, and commands us to repeat. When said with devotion, it is the most powerful of all prayers. (Matt. VI, 9-13; Luke XI. 2‑4.)

SHORT EXPLANATION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER

Of what does the Lord's Prayer consist?

It consists of an address, as an introduction to the prayer, and of seven petitions which contain all that we should ask for the honor of God, and for our own salvation. The address is thus: Our Father who art in heaven:

What does the word “Our" signify?

In the communion of saints we should pray for and with all the children of God; we should be humble and preserve brotherly love towards all men.

Who is it that is here called our “Father"?

Our Father is God who has made us His children and heirs of His kingdom through His Son.

Why do we say "Who art in heaven", since God is everywhere?

To remind us that our true home is heaven, for which we, should ardently long, because our Father is there, and there He has prepared our inheritance.

For what do we ask to the first petition: "Hallowed be Thy name?"

That we and all men may truly know, love, and serve God.

For what do we pray to the second petition: "Thy kingdom come?"

That the Church of God; the kingdom of Christ, may extend over the whole earth, and the kingdom of sin and the devil be destroyed; that Christ may reign in our hearts and in the hearts of all; and that God will deign to receive us into the kingdom of heaven when our earthly pilgrimage is ended.

For what do we ask to the third petition: "Thy will be done on earth as it is to heaven ?"

We beg that God would enable us, by His grace, to do His will in all things, as the blessed do it in heaven. In these three petitions we seek, as taught by Christ, first the kingdom of God, that all the rest may be added unto us. (Luke XII. 31.)

For what do we ask in the fourth petition: "Give us this day our dally bread?"

We beg for all necessaries for body and soul

Why does it say, "this day?"

The words "this day" signify that we should not be over anxious for the future, but place all our confidence in God who will provide the necessaries of life.

What do we ask for in the fifth petition: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us?"

We beg that God will forgive us our sins, as we forgive others their offenses against us. Those who make this petition, and still bear enmity towards their neighbor, lie in the face of God, and will not receive forgiveness. (Mark XI. 25, 26.)

What is risked for in the sixth petition: Lead us not into temptation?"

We ask God to avert all temptations or at least not to abandon us when we are tempted. We cannot, indeed be entirely free from them in this world, they are even necessary and useful for our salvation: for without temptation there is no combat, without combat no victory and without victory no crown.

What do we ask for in the seventh petition: Deliver us from evil?"

We beg that God would free us from all evil of soul and body.

INSTRUCTION CONCERNING THE PROCESSIONS ON ROGATION DAYS

What are processions?

Processions are solemn religious assemblages of persons marching together, and are instituted by the Catholic Church partly to encourage the piety of the faithful, partly in remembrance of graces received, and in thanksgiving for them. Processions are approved of by the Fathers of the Church from the earliest ages. Those who take part in them in a true spirit will reap wholesome fruit of Christian piety.

Are processions something new?

No, they were the custom in the very earliest centuries of the Church, as testified by the acts of the martyrs, of Saints Cyprian, Lucius, Boniface, and the Fathers of the Church, Saints Basil, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Gregory, and others. They are also founded on Scripture. Thus King David caused the ark of the covenant to be carried in solemn procession to Jerusalem, (II Kings VI.) and Solomon, his son, had it carried in solemn procession into the new temple. (III Kings VIII. 1-6.)

What do processions signify?

Processions are a figure of our pilgrimage on earth; we are strangers and wanderers here below, our journey reaches from this valley of tears to the heavenly Sion, the procession therefore returns into the house of God; our journey leads over the thorny ways of life, the procession therefore takes place in the open air, where the pilgrim is exposed to all kinds of weather; they are a powerful incentive to fervor in prayer for the faithful; when hundreds, even thousands of faithful praise God aloud, or cry to Him for help and mercy, must not even the coldest heart be roused to vivid, fervent devotion, since Christ has promised to be present even where two or three are assembled in His name? Processions are an open acknowledgment that praise, thanks and adoration are due to God alone, while they are a public profession of our faith in Christ, the Crucified; they are a solemn thanksgiving for being permitted to profess Christ, our Lord, before the whole world, as also for all the graces obtained through Him; they are a public testimonial of our faith in the one, holy, Catholic Church, whose members are united by the same bond of faith, and who form under their head, Christ, one family in God. Finally, they are a sign of the triumph of Christian faith over the darkness of heathenism. If processions are solemnized with such intentions, with order and dignity, with fervent devotion, in the light of faith, they are indeed a pleasing sight for angels and men

Why are banners and the cross carried in procession?

The cross signifies that we are assembled as Christians, in the name of Jesus, in whose name we begin and end our prayers, through whose merits we expect all things from the Heavenly Father, and whom we must follow: on our journey to heaven; the red and white banners indicate that we must walk in all innocence under the banner of Christ, and fight unto death against sin, against the world and the devil, and be as ready as were the martyrs to give our life for our faith; the blue banners indicate that we must walk the road of self-denial and mortification, with really humble and penitent feelings for our gins. The banners are also emblematic of Christ's victory over death and hell, and of the triumph of His religion over the pagans and Jews.

Why do we go around the fields in processions?

To beg God to bless the fields with His fatherly hand, to give and preserve the fruits of the earth, and. as He fills the animals with blessings, and gives them food at the proper time, so may He give to as also our necessary food.

What is the origin of the procession on St. Mark's day and on Rogation Days?

The procession on St. Mark's day was instituted even before the time of Pope Gregory the Great (607) who, however, brought it into fervent practice, "in order," as he says, 'to obtain, in a measurer forgiveness of our sins." The same pontiff introduced another, called the Sevenfold Procession, because the faithful of Rome took part in it in seven divisions, from seven different Churches, meeting in the Church of the Blessed Virgin. It was also named the Pest Procession, because it was ordered by St. Gregory to obtain the cessation of a fearful pestilence which was at that time raging in Rome, and throughout all Italy. This pestilence so poisoned the atmosphere that one opening his mouth to sneeze or gape would suddenly fall dead; (hence the custom of saying God bless you," to one sneezing, and of making the sign of the cross on the mouth of one who gapes). The same holy pope ordered the picture of the Blessed Virgin, which is said to have been painted by St. Luke, to be carried in this procession, and that the intercession of this powerful mother be these supplications and the pestilence asked. God heard ceased. It is said that the processions in Rogation Week owe their origin to St. Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne in France; in the neighborhood of which city there were, in the year 469, terrible earthquakes which caused great destruction, the fruits perished and various plagues afflicted the people. The saintly bishop assembled the faithful, recommended them to seek refuge in the merciful God, and led them in procession around the fields. Such processions spread over France, and gradually throughout the Christian world; they are held in order to obtain from God the averting of universal evils, such as war, famine, and pestilence, and are, at the same time, a preparation for the Ascension of Christ who is our most powerful mediator with His Father, and whom we should invoke especially during these days.

With what intentions should we take part in a procession?

With the intention of glorifying God, of thanking Him for all. His graces, and of obtaining aid and comfort from Him in all our corporal and spiritual needs; with the view of professing our faith openly before the whole world, and with the sincere resolution of always following Christ, the Crucified, in the path of penance and mortification. He who entertains other intentions and takes part, perhaps, for temporal advantages, or for sinful pleasures, or to avoid labor, &c., sins against God and the Church who weeps over and condemns such abuses.